The present invention pertains to a prefabricated structural panel of the type that can be used for on-site construction of a building, and which is so constructed and arranged that it is possible, with relatively little unskilled labor, to quickly and easily erect the walls and roof of a building.
At the present time, there are only two methods commonly used to build dwellings: (1) conventional carpentry, in which raw lumber is cut to length and nailed up, piece by piece; and (2) prefabricated construction, in which factory-made components are shipped to the building site, where they are assembled to form one of a limited number of building designs. The disadvantages of the conventional method are that it is extremely slow, requiring many months to complete even the simplest dwelling; it requires many hundreds of man-hours of skilled labor, and therefore is expensive; and it is subject to long delays because of inclement weather. The disadvantages of prefabricated construction are that it is relatively inflexible, and can be used economically for only a limited range of building designs. Any contemplated change in the building design usually presents virtually insurmountable problems, as all of the components are specifically fabricated to cooperate with other specifically designed components. Thus, the building contractor is constrained to build one of a limited number of building designs, with no provision for modifying the design to accommodate the needs of the individual for whom the building is being constructed.